In a known form of ground fault receptacle circuit, the circuitry was arranged such that an indicating lamp is activated whenever power is applied to the receptacle contacts. In other words, an indicating lamp is activated whenever power is available at the contacts of the receptacle.
Although such ground fault receptacles have been and still are utilized in numerous applications, it has been found that such receptacles do leave something to be desired. For example, failure of the indicator lamp would incorrectly indicate that power is not present at the receptacle terminals even though it was. Obviously, such a condition represents a serious shock hazard. Also, a continuously activated indicator lamp offers an undesirable and continuous consumption of power. Moreover, failure of the indicating lamp will obviously occur more often when a continuously activated unit is employed.